


Welcome Home

by AgresteBug



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien is a sunshine child, Gabriel is a terrible father, Hurt/Comfort, New York Special mentions, Other, Plagg protects his Kittens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:14:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26943499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgresteBug/pseuds/AgresteBug
Summary: After returning from New York, Gabriel is not happy with Adrien, and Plagg tries to help.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Plagg
Comments: 10
Kudos: 93





	Welcome Home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [@Quicksilver ～あの人～](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=%40Quicksilver+%EF%BD%9E%E3%81%82%E3%81%AE%E4%BA%BA%EF%BD%9E).



> For @Quicksilver ～あの人～ from the Miraculous Discord Server! You asked for something focused on Plagg and Adrien's relationship, so here is Plagg comforting Adrien after a confrontation with Gabriel! Congratulations on winning the Bingo prize! I hope this lives up to your expectations! Enjoy!

Adrien felt like a small child under the might of his father’s strong gaze. He hadn’t even been off of the plane for an hour, and already his father was letting him know how he really felt.

“My expectations of you have always been the same. No matter what country you are in. Do you understand how this makes the company look, how it makes me look?”

Adrien couldn’t meet his father’s eyes as he tried his hardest to keep his voice from shaking, “I didn’t do anything wrong. I was trying to help my friend,”

“And your name is now plastered all over every paper in New York, along with hers. I will not tolerate you being involved in one of those, ridiculous American scandals. You are an Agreste!” His father shouted, “Already news here is trying to connect you to the girl as something more!”

“Marinette is my friend, I couldn’t stand there and watch her nearly get,”

“That’s exactly what you should have done!” Gabriel shouted, “It’s like I’ve taught you nothing, that you’ve learned nothing! That girl is now always going to be a mark on your reputation,” Adrien forced himself to stay frozen, wanting nothing more than to curl in on himself as his father continued to drill into him, “I should have never listened to her in the first place. It was a mistake to ever let you go on that trip. That girl,”

“Her name is Marinette.” He said, trying not to be angry that his father refused to acknowledge her by her name. “She is my friend. She knew how much I wanted to go. She was just standing up for me,”

“And led you into a scandal!” Gabriel reminded him, clicking something on the tablet in front of him and bringing up the newspaper article that had printed in New York yesterday. He’d already seen the article as he was getting off the plane, and rumors were circulating about why he and Marinette were in the room alone when TechnoPirate attacked.

“It’s not her fault that people imagine what they want Father.”

“No it’s yours, for putting yourself in that kind of compromising position to begin with.” Gabriel snapped, “Until further notice you will cease all interactions with that girl,”

His head snapped up, “But Father,”

“I won’t hear a word against it or I will take you out of school completely!”

He flinched at the harshness of his father’s tone, but the words came out strongly, “Marinette doesn’t deserve that! She is an amazing person who I’m lucky to be able to call a friend. You can’t just take her away like,”

“I can and will.” Gabriel said sharply, silencing his son, “You don’t need that kind of bad influence in your life.” He turned his back, a sign that Adrien knew well, “Return to your room. You are not to go anywhere without my express permission.”

Adrien visibly deflated, his hands relaxing from where they had balled into fists, “Yes sir.”

Adrien left the Atelier in silence, missing Nathalie’s disapproving look at Gabriel.

He shut the door to his room quietly, Plagg immediately flying out into view with a frown on his face, “Kid...”

Adrien threw himself facedown on the bed in silence, resting his head on his arms. His father’s angry words were still echoing in his skull. Plagg flew in front of his face, “Don’t let him get to you,”

“He is threatening to take Marinette away, all because she convinced him to let me go to New York in the first place. It’s not her fault that we were attacked.” He stared at the floor, still upset with himself, “I almost lost Ladybug, and I almost lost you Plagg,” one sad set of green eyes met another, “losing Marinette as a friend is just like that feeling, squeezing my heart until it's hard to breathe and I feel like crying.”

The cat kwami let out a heavy sigh, “You have other friends, and it’s not like you can avoid pigtails forever. She sits right behind you. You have nothing to worry about.”

“But if my father finds out,” he started, but Plagg instantly interrupted him.

“Then don’t let him find out.”

Adrien sighed, “It’s not that simple Plagg, you know that. Nothing gets past my father.”

“Except you moonlighting as a superhero in a skintight black leather suit.” Plagg reminded him, seeing the smallest smile back on his holder’s face. He flew over and patted Adrien’s cheek where he still had his head on his arms, “If you can keep THAT from him, you can keep your friendship with pigtails a secret too.”

Adrien started to nod, but another frown marred his features as he sat up, “She is the first real friend I ever made on my own. She went out of her way to actually stand up to my father, and managed to miraculously change his mind.”

Plagg smirked with his holder for throwing the pun in there, but it didn’t last long as Adrien started to frown again, “She just wanted me to be able to have fun with everyone… why can’t he see that?”

Adrien’s defeated gaze had Plagg silent, wishing he had a real answer, “I don’t know,” he admitted truthfully, “I wish I did.”

He watched his holder visibly sink, his usual tall posture replaced by slumped shoulders. Adrien’s hands covered his face as he leaned his elbows on his knees.

“This isn’t right.” Adrien muttered, one of his hands finding its way through his blonde hair. “He didn’t even say welcome home, or asked me how I was. It’s like nothing I do is ever good enough for him.” There was the smallest tremble of Adrien’s lip, and Plagg knew it was coming.

The small black cat kwami’s voice was no more than a heartbroken whisper, “Adrien,”

A tear slipped from the bright green eyes of his holder, Adrien practically begging as he asked shakily, “Why is he like this? Why does Father always put everything else before me? Why does he think it’s wrong that I want to have friends, or that I want to help them? Marinette was almost crushed when TechnoPirate attacked! If Ladybug hadn’t been there and managed to get her out of the way in time,” he voice caught, tears flowing from his eyes.

The kwami didn’t know how to answer without hurting his holder more. In the year he’d been with Adrien, he hadn’t once seen the older Agreste do anything that was remotely in the best interest of his son. Everything Gabriel did, he did with a motive that only benefited ‘the brand’ or their ‘image.’ Even letting Adrien hang out with the scary dragon girl was to gain the girls mothers’ good graces. The awful excuse for a father always put his company, and his work, first. Watching Adrien’s usal bright expression being so easily replaced by sadness time and time again whenever his father was involved, could easily ignite the cataclysm in him.

“Your father is used to being alone Adrien.” Plagg said slowly, trying to reign in his anger at seeing his holder this upset, “He doesn’t understand because he can’t. To him, friends aren’t a real thing. They are just people who are using you to gain something.”

“But it’s not true! My friends aren’t like that, Marinette especially. She would have tried to help me if our positions were reversed, I know that because that’s how she is.” Adrien wiped his eyes frustratedly, his voice breaking at the end.

“Even if he’s used to being alone,” Adrien started, shaking his head sadly, “I’m still here. Don’t I mean anything to him,”

“Of course you do,” Plagg tried.

“Then why does he treat me this way?!” Adrien asked louder than he knew he should have.

Plagg watched sadly as Adrien started crying again into his hands. The kwami flew over and found the secret bottle he’d managed to keep hidden. He picked up the sealed little piece of cheese and flew back over to Adrien, his voice quiet.

“I… I know you won’t want it but…”

Adrien looked up, his eyes red and puffy, began to widen as he held the cheese out to him, “This is the last bite of the very first piece of Camembert you ever gave me.”

He flew down and put it in Adrien’s hand, “This cheese is precious to me, the way you are. It reminds me of the day I found the best holder I’ve ever had, and the friend I didn’t know I was missing.”

Adrien’s eyes were glued to the little bottle, more tears spilling past his eyes. His voice crackled with tears as he whispered shocked, “Plagg,”

Plagg flew up and nuzzled his cheek, “That man has no idea how rare of a beautiful person you are, on the inside.” Plagg touched Adrien’s cheek, making him look him in the eyes, “For thousands of years, I’ve watched humanity fail over and over again. They make the same mistakes, like they refuse to learn from those who came before them. But you,” Plagg said it stronger, “You are one of the rare gems lost in the dark, that proves that humanity can still be saved. It’s this,” he touched over Adrien’s heart, “that the world needs more of. Wanting to share that with friends, putting yourself in harm's way every time you fight an akuma, and even in New York when you were trying to save Pigtails, there is _nothing_ wrong with that. No matter what your father thinks.”

Adrien continued to cry at the kwami’s tender words, a small smile trying to shine through as Plagg told him, “If you take care of that for me,” he pointed to the bottled cheese in Adrien’s hand, “I swear that I will always take care of you.”

Sniffling, Adrien pulled Plagg back to his cheek, “Thanks Plagg. I promise to take good care of it.”

Plagg smiled sadly to himself, closing his eyes as he let a small mark of his power transfer into Adrien. He wasn’t Tikki, who could bless her holders with good luck, or heal them when they were hurt - physically or emotionally. He was the kwami of destruction. It was the core of his power, to destroy in balance to her creation, but that wasn’t all he was. Ladybug’s job was to heal. His, was to protect. A small spark of power may have not seemed like much, but it would make sure that Adrien was always protected. It would help him grow stronger, until the day he could protect himself. Hopefully, he was with him long enough to see that day happen.

“He doesn’t deserve you kid.” Plagg told Adrien as the power settled quietly inside his holder, who would never know it was there, “He’ll realize his mistakes one day, and when that time comes, I know you’ll be strong enough to stand your ground against him.”

He flew back and watched Adrien wipe the tears from his face, “I don’t know what I would do without you Plagg.”

He crossed his arms with a small huff, closing his eyes for a second as he looked away, his voice teasing, “Lead a dull and boring life that’s what. You have to admit that life is MUCH more interesting now that I’m here.”

Adrien chuckled softly, Plagg cracking open an eye to see the light he had lost back in his holder’s eyes, “Well, you aren’t wrong.”

Plagg nodded, flying over to grab the remote, “Mmhmm, and don’t you forget it.” He dropped the remote into Adrien’s hand, “You don’t have anything scheduled for the afternoon, why don’t we just, watch some TV. What’s that show you like, you know, the one with the girl with long pigtails, moon scout or something? Not that the show is very accurate or anything. The celestial kwami’s powers aren’t so limited.”

Adrien smiled brighter, ignoring his accuracy comment, “Sure. Why don’t you grab a good cheese while I put it on.”

Plagg muttered under his breath, wanting to laugh at the joke Adrien didn’t even know he was making, as he flew to his cheese stash, “You are the one who needs a good cheese. A pigtailed one, preferably.” He flew back over with a large wedge of camembert, Adrien shaking his head fondly at the sight before putting on the show.

It wasn’t long before Adrien fell asleep on the couch, Plagg sighing heavily at the sight. He flew over to the closet and grabbed the ladybug patterned throw blanket.

He covered his chosen carefully, whispering it to him softly, “Welcome home. Sweet dreams Kitten.” He curled up in the crook of Adrien’s neck and started purring as he drifted to sleep, both of them with smiles on their faces.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave comments or kudos if you want!
> 
> Au Revoir for now!


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